Leir's Story
by Muse with Wings
Summary: Eyes glowing, the stallion flew across the grass alongside his fellow warriors, unleashing a battle cry.  The white wyrms would regret ever setting their oily skin on the unicorns' sacred home! oneshot


A/N: I do not own the Firebringer Trilogy, but Leir, Sha, Jaku, and this story are all (c) to me. Please do not steal my characters or their histories or their designs. This is a story about the father and mate of two of my roleplay characters, Jaku and Sha. I thought it would be interesting to write out his story, especially since not much is known about him. The story takes place during the war in the third book, and it goes back and forth between Leir fighting and before the war started, when the unicorns of the Vale were making their way to the Hallow Hills. Please R&R, it means a lot to me!! Thanks! Ookami

Oh, and I can't forget the name pronunciations! Leir- Leer; Sha- Shah; Jaku- Jah-koo, Leir's truename, Lekaire- Leh-care.

**Leir's Story**

A searing pain painted itself across the stallion's shoulder, and in answer, he twisted his neck around and without having to look, lunged and pierced the pale wyrm's protective breastplate, knowing he had skewered its heart. The wyrm's clear blood seeped out of the wound, dripping down the unicorn stallion's emerald horn; soaking his forelock. With a fiery determination, the rust-colored stallion leapt over the snake-like body to help a comrade finish off one of the wyrms that had grown old enough to bear two hissing, snaking heads. He did not try to dodge the whipping stings, for they could not poison his blood. His blood that he had mixed with the Firebringer's own.

The unicorn stallion tried to snort the wyvern stench from his nostrils, tried the shake his wet forelock from out of his eyes. He reared, shrieking out his battle cry, pummeling with razor sharp cleft hooves. With a gurgling cry, the oily serpent crumpled, its smallest head destroyed and cold heart gouged. Panting, the deafening sound of battle roaring in his tasseled ears, he began the deadly dance once more. Lunge, gouge, rip, and kick. Over and over again. His bright hazel eyes furrowed with concentration, his jaw clenched. But once one of the wyrms had been killed, yet another took its place. A tendril of despair rose deep inside his breast.

X X X X X X

"Very well, let us share path for as long as may be."

The rust-red stallion snorted and stared curiously at the Plainsdwellers that stood before the large band of Moondancers he belonged to. Some of the others wore feathers in their manes, giving them a wild appearance. He shook his own indigo mane, and the sunlight glinted off his jade-colored horn.

The two herds merged slowly into one, and rather shyly, the stallion greeted one or two of the Plainsdwellers, each equally hesitant.

Turning, the stallion searched for his own kin. He first spotted the light pink pelt and almost black, blue mane of his dear mate, Sha. He gazed at the beauty of her, and she turned to meet his eyes and smiled with her own sparkling, sky blue ones.

He trotted over to her and they rubbed against each other. The stallion placed the tip of his nose against her darker pink velvet one, careful to avoid hitting her with his horn, and breathed in her scent.

"Lekaire, I don't know what I'll do when we finally wage war upon those wyrms." Sha stared almost fearfully into her mate's eyes

"Do not worry yourself-"

"It is not I that I hold worry for, Leir, it is you!" The pink dun mare whispered frantically. "I know they will make me stay behind with the other mares who have not yet weaned their young!" She moved her head so that the pair now stood cheek to cheek, and she shuddered.

"I will be fine, Sha."

A sudden bump against the stallion's dark red hind legs brought his attention to their son. Crimson with primitive indigo stripes on his legs and shoulders, an indigo dorsal stripe, muzzle, and eye spots, the little colt smiled. Leir turned toward his young and playfully nipped his bushy violet mane. Sha walked over and immediately began fussing over his appearance.

"Oh, Jaku, you've gotten those pesky burs in your coat again. Silly foal, you must be running through bushes in order to obtain so many of them."

The colt shook himself and whinnied a soft giggle, lashing his whip-like tail happily while his grey eyes shone.

Leir glanced upwards and frowned. The sky was beginning to darken as the sun stallion made his retreat to the horizon. He turned to watched the starry Plainsdweller, was it Calydor that he called himself? His dark blue coat was covered in what seemed to be stars. The rust-colored dun only hoped that he knew the fastest and safest way to the Moondancers' lost home.

X X X X X X

Leir's chest heaved with his heavy breathing as the scent of the wyrms' blood and his own stung the delicate skin of his nostrils. Blood streaked across his back from the stings of his serpent foes, and he limped slightly on his front right leg from a bite wound. Gritting his teeth, the rust-red stallion realized he should have impaled the wyrm's head before suspecting it to be fully dead.

Green tasseled ears perked upright at the sound of Tek's whistle. He answered with his own, as did his fellow warriors. They knew what to do.

His breath rattled in his sore, dry throat as he jumped over the dead to find a place in the forming crescent of unicorns. Another of Tek's cries roused him from his weariness, and he fought even harder than he had before. He could not afford to lose, for he fought for his people, for his mate and his child, for his freedom and the sacred land of the unicorns. He suddenly realized that there was so much to lose. In the corner of a light brown eye, he caught a glimpse of a warrior's body, mangled and lifeless on the grass, slick with wyvern and unicorn blood alike. Fear clawed at his heart. He did not want to share a similar fate.

With a wrench of his head, Leir cut open the lower portion of a giant, pearlescent wyvern. Its scream pierced his ears as he stood back to let another deliver the final blow. He knew that the wyverns were breaking through; he tried to fight with the little strength he had left, but it was just too much.

"To war! To war!"

Leir picked his head up, eyes wide. He took a quick glance around and saw nothing but fighting. He shook his head, thinking it was the sounds of battle playing with his ears.

"The wyverns! The wyverns! To war!"

This time the cry was louder, and Leir looked up once more. A herd of shaggy-looking unicorns sped toward the battle field, sending out whistles and war cries. Leir could no longer feel the burning of his muscles, the sting of his wounds. Help had come, and from the prince, no less!

X X X X X X

Jaku raced through the tall grass stalks of Alma's Back, chasing and being chased by other colts and fillies. He jumped and pranced, rearing and kicking out with his slender legs. Leir smiled at the colt's antics. He bowed his head to nibble at the striped skin on his leg, listening behind him with one ear.

The gentle crunch and rustle of the grass announced his mate's arrival, and he waited for her to speak.

After a long silence, the pink dun mare snorted and leaned against her darker colored mate and laid her head across his back. She remained silent.

When it became obvious to Leir that the mare would not speak, he said conversationally, "The prince has been taking an awfully long time in catching Korr. I hope things are alright with him."

Sha removed her head from the stallion's back and glared at him. "I feel for his mate. She must be so worried about him." Sha glanced away, watching a flock of birds make their way across the great sky. Leir shifted uncomfortably, knowing where this conversation would lead.

Soon enough, Sha whipped her head around, her dark blue mane fluttering in the breeze. "Why do you stallions always feel the need to run off and leave your mates behind?"

"Sha-"

"You're no better than the Plainsdwellers themselves! I don't see why you have to go off and fight those things! Stay with me and Jaku, you'll be safe!"

"Safe?" Leir faced his mate, glowering with a silent anger. "You want me to stay back while others die? Tek and the others need me, they need every warrior they can get, and one can be the difference between our win or loss."

"Am I not a warrior?" The pink mare lashed her tassel tail and dug into the ground with light brown hooves. "Why must I stay behind while you fight? It's because you want the same thing for me that I want for you! You want me to be safe and protected like a doddering old mare! How am I supposed to just stand there while you-"

He cut her off, his own tail lashing in agitation. The couple had never before fought like this, and it scared him. "You know that you must stay back to protect the other foals and uninitiated yearlings! And Jaku still needs you. You know how his is around others, he's so shy!"

Sha dropped her head, gnashing her teeth together with anger, fright, and sadness. The mare knew this was a battle she could not win.

Leir sighed as if expelling the argument from him, and tugged at his mate's mane playfully. When she looked up, he smiled slightly and stared deep into her blue eyes, feeling the unending love she held for him. "Do not worry, for Alma will be watching over me." The two unicorns came together once more, Leir's head on Sha's shoulders and her head on his, in a loving embrace.

X X X X X X

The newcomers surged around the weary Ring warriors, and Leir whistled his joy. He continued to fight, although it took longer now to kill the wyverns as they all bore two or three heads. Yelling, he reared and gored a wyvern with his fire-tempered horn, the shouts of encouragement from his fellow warriors in his ears. He backed away quickly as the wyrm toppled, jaws snapping and tail thrashing. Its blood dripped into his burning eyes.

Leir realized that he was in the back of the line of unicorns, and squeezed past a few of the others. Tek's ringing warrior cry rose somewhere in the front, and the rust-red stallion's eyes widened at the sight of her foe. There stood the giant wyvern king, all seven heads of him. It shrieked at the pied mare as she bravely fought, and the sight of her courage and strength made Leir almost reckless as he turned to face another wyvern bodyguard.

The sky had suddenly turned an almost blood red as the sun stallion disappeared beneath the horizon. Leir felt faint from loss of blood, and his vision blurred every once and a while from pain and weariness.

A badger-like paw swung seemingly out of nowhere and caught the stallion on his shoulder. The force of the blow brought Leir to his knees, and he scrambled to get up. The wyvern struck once more, but the rust-colored stallion speared it with his bloody horn, ripping a scream fro the wyrm's throats. He realized that he was the only one fighting this serpentine creature, that he had again been pushed to the back.

Angrily Leir struck again, this time at the smaller head. He ripped a gash in its lower jaw and it emitted a high-pitched scream. "This is for stealing the sacred home of the unicorns, wyrm!" He shouted. "I'll make you regret the day your king stole our lands from us!"

The wyvern hissed at him and clawed his shoulders with its remaining paw, biting with its biggest head.

Leir's fur had been stained blood red with his own blood, and his mane was slick with the blood of the wyverns he had fought.

The white wyrm's paw struck Leir across the cheek, leaving behind four long gashes. The stallion winced and fell to one knee as the wyvern threw itself on top of him. Leir pointed his jade horn skyward and used the serpent's own weight against it.

It fell on him, its blood soaking his mane and pouring into his hazel eyes. The stallion twisted beneath its great oily body, finally crawling out from under it.

Cries and the heat of fire from behind grabbed his attention, but as he turned to look, the wyvern's biggest head grabbed the unicorn's unprotected neck. Leir was yanked forward, his breath rattling in his throat. Desperately he kicked and stomped the pale body until it finally released its hold on the dun stallion's neck.

Leir stumbled away from the body, blinded by both its blood and his own. He tripped and landed on his side on the trampled, blood-covered grass. His wounds no longer burned, now they froze. The stallion felt a huge shiver run through his body despite the heat of the fire behind him.

"Sha…" he croaked. He tasted blood on his tongue. _Sha… I am so sorry. _He tried to breathe, but choked on his own blood. _I did not want it to end this way. But, who does?_ He was so tired. The noise around him blurred into one long rumbling sound. _Please don't dwell on my death, spend your energy in raising our son and teaching him to be a great stallion. A warrior of the Ring. _He closed his dulled brown eyes and released his last breath. _Tell him… Tell him that I am with Alma now, and that I will always be with you in spirit, if not in body…_

X X X X X X

"Father?"

The rust-red stallion looked down at his son, and smiled. "Yes, Jaku?"

"Will I ever grow up to be as strong as you?"

Leir chuckled and gazed into the hopeful grey eyes of the young colt. "Nay, young one."

Jaku's tasseled ears drooped, a frown on his face.

"You will become a stronger and greater warrior than I ever could be." The smile that appeared on the colt's face made the stallion's heart soar. "Do your best, and listen to your heart. And be patient, for your initiation day will come soon."

The crimson colt snuggled against his sire, laughing as Leir snorted into his little scrub mane. "I love you."

The stallion's eyes filled with tears. He thanked the Great Mare for all the gifts she had bestowed upon him, and murmured, "I love you too."

Ookami: I hope you liked the story, it took a lot to write the ending, and I kind of teared up when I finished. embarrassed Please tell me what you like/disliked and how I can improve! Thanks for reading!


End file.
